London Fashion Week AW16 culture guide

Culture shock

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17.02.16

If you’re in London for fashion week, here are 10 things to do in the city this week

Coming up with a culture guide for London Fashion Week was not an easy task. There are just too many things to do, you're going to be spoilt for choice if you happen to be in town on a limited time frame. Nevertheless, here are ten things you can do in the city this week:

17 - 19 Feb: Resolution Dance Festival, The Place

No guys, it's not a rave. Resolution Dance Festival is instead rather literal: it's the UK's biggest festival that brings together dancers, choreographers, and the keen observer, to one venue. Currently in its 27th year, the month-long festival allows artists - emerging and experienced alike - to present their work on the stage.

Harry Potter fans rejoice! Delve backstage of the first ever Harry Potter film and see the props, costumes, film sets and special effects with your own eyes. The anniversary special comprises a series of special features, where you can immerse yourself in the Great Hall at Hogwarts until 22 February.

With a title like that, how could anyone resist? It turns out Britain has a rich relationship and history with alcohol, and this act that cuts across time, generations, class and gender, has been immortalised in a one-of-a-kind exhibition at Tate Britain.

Opera's favourite comical bird catcher and royalties will take the stage in Mozart's epic composition The Magic Flute. The English Opera will be performing the historical musical wonder, all the way until early March.

If you like your morning walks, why not do in London, and get educated while you're at it, with company too. Take a stroll along London's Southbank, as you get acquainted with post-war public art that dates from 1951. And if you're not an early-morning person, don't worry... it only starts after 10am!

Truth be told, we're really excited about this simply because Uzo Aduba ("Crazy Eyes" from Orange is the New Black) is starring in this play. But on a more serious note, The Maids by Jean Genet (1947) is a sadistic satire of the class system, where two maids (Zawe Ashton and Uzo Aduba) plot some horribly twisted ways to kill their mistress.

Dubbed the "blockbuster" show of the year, the works of the French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix takes centre stage at the National Gallery. And it's for good reason: Delacroix isn't just some boring old painter who painted orgies in ancient times; his progressive, dramatic works have been likened to "a poet in painting."

Two words: Ralph Fiennes. The actor - of Voldemort and The Grand Budapest Hotel fame - takes on the role as a morally impeachable craftsman, who deals with a fatal attraction to a woman much younger than him.

If you were one of those who drool endlessly over royal films, weddings, scandals and the like, you're going to love this exhibition at Kensington Palace. The exhibition features some four decades of signature clothing worn by the Royal Family's iconic women.